The battle among the Big Three U.S. auto makers for full-size pickup truck buyers is getting as down and dirty as the hard-working, mud-splattered vehicles they show in the commercials. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have entered a new day of back-biting that may harken to the watershed moment in 2009 when GM and Chrysler accepted U.S.-government bailouts — and Ford demurred.

The latest punch in the tete-a-tete has been delivered by Chrysler's Ram brand, which poses a question in the brand's new national TV commercial, above, for February's "Ram Truck Month": What do you get if you subtract the horsepower, torque and warranty coverage of a Ram? The answer: a Ford F-150. Ram Truck Month 2012's slogan is "Test our Metal," but it seems it's Ford's mettle that's being tested.

Chevrolet also took a shot at Ford in its Super Bowl ad set in an apocalyptic 2012, in which the only one of a band of survivalists who didn't make it out of the rubble was the guy who owned a Ford truck. The rest of them, Silverado owners, all emerged.Continue reading...

M&M's "Just My Shell" reveal of Ms. Chocolate was the most popular Super Bowl 2012 commercial, as voted on by YouTube users in its thumbs up/thumbs down Ad Blitz contest. The new character reveal of the brand's "Chief Chocolate Officer" was no doubt helped by a post-game social campaign around the character.

General Motors CMO Joel Ewanick tweeted that his Super Bowl Sunday got off to a surprising start: "Woke today with letter from Ford asking Chevy to pull 2012 Super Bowl ad. Really! We stand by our longest-lasting most dependable truck."

Turns out that Ford sent a letter to GM and NBC demanding that the commercial, which shows Chevy Silverado owners surviving the apocalypse while their Ford truck-owning buddy doesn't make it, be pulled.Continue reading...

Just when it seemed that almost every Super Bowl ad already had been revealed or teased, brand marketers' buzz machines continue revving up. GM is promoting their Super Bowl XLVI spots on Chevy's YouTube channel — including talking insects on a Chevy Sonic and Volt-enchanted aliens, which you can watch below — with YouTube-only clips with Rainn Wilson encouraging fans to share, engage and vote for their favorite spots.Continue reading...

U.S. auto sales continued their nice recovery in January overall, by 11 percent over a year earlier, as a number of brands extended their own surges — and some fell back a bit.

The biggest winners when industry sales were announced today were Volkswagen, whose January sales were a whopping 48% ahead of last January, and Chrysler, which reported a 44% year-over-year gain. Chrysler credited its recent spate of 16 all-new or significantly refreshed products, while Volkswagen of America CEO Jonathan Browning pointed out that the brand's "growth strategy continues to take root."

Also posting healthy double-digit gains were brands including Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Hyundai.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is that Nissan, Honda and Toyota all reported significant increases in sales for January over a year earlier: 10 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively. While those numbers don't seem very impressive per se, what is significant is that they represent gains over the brands' pre-tsunami performances. So these are very positive indicators for the Japanese brands as they complete their comebacks from the March 11 natural disaster of last year.Continue reading...

Don't expect General Motors CEO Dan Akerson to go meekly back to Flyover Country after his resolute defense of the Chevrolet Volt before Congress last week. His appearance will rank as the high-water mark for the car's critics, not for the car.

The appeal of Volt to American consumers is poised to begin rising again. There's a new federal imprimatur on its crash-worthiness. GM will use its new marketing campaign, including on Super Bowl Sunday, to get out a fresh and upbeat message about Volt. And gasoline prices will likely start rising again, at least for seasonal reasons, as spring approaches, meaning that American consumers will be taking a closer look once again at what they shell out at the pump after about a year of relative stability, though at about $3.50 a gallon.Continue reading...

One of the fascinating things about Super Bowl advertising is that the decisions around it offer a microcosmic look at big-picture branding strategies.

That's certainly the case in the auto industry, where like other brands, the "regulars" seem to keep coming back year after year. General Motors, Hyundai and Audi, for instance, certainly approach the Big Game strategically. And their decisions for Super Bowl XLVI provide interesting insights into their overall thinking behind brand strategy these days.

General Motors will have Chevrolet dominating its Super Bowl advertising, as usual, this time with a total of seven Chevy spots before, during and after the game, including a spot by aspiring commercial director Zack Borst resulting from the brand's Route 66 contest.Continue reading...